Shipping companies expressed caution about using the shorter route between Asia and Europe that many ships have avoided for more than a year.
French shipping and logistics group CMA CGM will continue to avoid the Red Sea even though it considers the region is more stable following the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, it said on Saturday.
Yemen's Houthis have indicated they will restrict their Red Sea attacks to vessels linked with Israel amid a ceasefire in Gaza.
Houthi rebels have backed the Gaza ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas, with the Yemeni group’s spokesperson saying they will halt their military operations against Israel as well as commercial ships in the Red Sea if the truce comes into force on Sunday.
European forces joined the US Navy last year in an effort to defend key shipping lanes from Houthi rebel attacks.
Hapag-Lloyd reiterated it will return to the Red Sea "when it is sufficiently safe to do so," while Maersk said it was too early to speculate.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have signaled they will limit their attacks in the Red Sea corridor to only Israeli-affiliated ships as a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip takes hold.
Despite recently touting a Suez route, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) said it will stick to Cape of Good Hope until further notice.
Operations at a Red Sea port in Yemen used for aid imports have fallen to about a quarter of its capacity, a UN official said on Tuesday, adding it was not certain that a Gaza ceasefire would end attacks between the Iran-backed Houthis and Israel.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement has released the crew of a cargo ship more than a year after its fighters hijacked the vessel in the Red Sea, as part of its campaign of attacks in support of Hamas in its war against Israel.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have released the crew of the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle carrier seized in November 2023 at the start of their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war.
The Yemeni rebel group says it will stop targeting vessels that transit the Red Sea.